Home insurance: London and West Yorkshire dominate burglary claims list
Analysis of claims data from MoneySupermarket shows 17 areas in which no previous burglaries were declared by applicants for home insurance
Home insurance: London and West Yorkshire dominate burglary claims list
Analysis of claims data from MoneySupermarket shows 17 areas in which no previous burglaries were declared by applicants for home insurance
Not everyone who has experienced a burglary will make an insurance claim. Photograph: Andy Hall
Households in London's Stoke Newington and Apperley Bridge in Bradford are the most likely in Britain to make an insurance claim for burglary, according to analysis of information given by consumers on home policy applications.
Analysing 3m quotes made during the year to 30 November 2011, MoneySupermarket.com has produced a list of areas where applicants declared a previous claim for burglary or theft from their home or garden. Households in the N16 and BD10 postcodes declared a respective 33.6 and 33.1 insurance claims per 1,000 quotes, putting them top of the list.
London and Leeds postcodes made the most frequent appearances in the burglary claim chart, with six and five respectively. LS13, comprising Bramley, Rodley, and Swinnow, was the postcode district in Leeds with the most theft-related insurance claims.
In contrast, 17 areas showed no previous burglaries were declared by applicants for home insurance, including Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire, Eastbourne in East Sussex, Peterlee in County Durham, and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
Julie Fisher, head of home insurance at MoneySupermarket.com, said: "Being in a higher risk area doesn't necessarily mean where you live is bad or rife with crime – many thieves will target more affluent areas purely for the rewards on offer.
"Most insurers have a blanket approach when it comes to assessing postcode districts for home insurance premiums, but this really needs to change."
The latest crime statistics issued by the Home Office for the 12 months to September 2011 mirror MoneySupermarket's data, showing that the areas with the highest rate of burglary per 1,000 households are West Yorkshire (including Leeds and Bradford) and the London region.
But not everyone who has experienced a burglary will make an insurance claim, while many homes in a given postcode won't have bought any home insurance at all. Also, some people obtaining quotes for home insurance might (intentionally or not) omit the fact they have made a previous claim for burglary.
Malcolm Tarling from the Association of British Insurers said: "It is true that not everyone claims after a burglary – many homes are not insured and some people will omit a previous claim when applying for insurance, though they shouldn't. You could use claims data in 10 different ways and get 10 different outcomes.
"What is known is that more people in urban areas are less likely to have home insurance because of the cost – premiums are higher in urban areas because that is statistically where there is more crime. So while this survey has highlighted a number of urban areas as burglary hotspots, it's also true that an urban home with effective security measures installed can be less of a risk than a poorly protected home in a rural area."
Top 10 districts most likely to disclose a home insurance claim
1. N16 – Stoke Newington, London, 33.6 per 1,000 inquiries
2. BD10 – Apperley Bridge, Bradford, 31.7
3. B71 – West Bromwich, West Midlands, 31.7
4. N22 – Wood Green, London, 30.3
5. LS13 – Bramley, Rodley, Swinnow, Leeds, 30
6. LS15 – Austhorpe, Barwick-in-Elmet, Colton, Cross Gates, Halton, Halton Moor, Scholes, Whitkirk, Leeds, 28.
7. BD18 – Saltaire, Shipley, Windhill, Wrose, Bradford, 28.6
8. LS7 – Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Little London, Meanwood, Potternewton, Sheepscar, Leeds, 27.4
9. DN2 – Intake, Wheatley, Wheatley Hills, Doncaster, 27.3
10. SW16 – Streatham, London, 27.2
